Temporary Supported Communities: Strategies for Serving Unsheltered People
Communities are struggling to address a growing gap between unaffordable rents, stagnant incomes, a severe shortage of affordable housing, and insufficient emergency shelter capacity. As a result, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to grow, with 653,100 people living without housing on a single night in 2023 (a 12% increase over 2022).
Many communities have responded by criminalizing unhoused people and forcibly removing them from public spaces — a costly and deadly reaction that does not solve homelessness. But some communities are experimenting with approaches that allow unsheltered people to legally stay in public spaces without the threat of sweeps.
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council’s policy brief “Temporary Supported Communities: Strategies for Serving Unsheltered People” illustrates how 12 communities have dedicated public spaces for unsheltered people to stay without threat of arrest while having access interim support services that move them toward permanent housing. To read the full policy brief, which also notes issues of ongoing concern, visit nhchc.org.
Sleeping spaces, other basic needs, location, disability access, governance and rules, staff training, perimeter, and referral/entry/exit
THE POLICY BRIEF IS ORGANIZED AROUND THREE GOALS AND VITAL PRACTICES Read the full policy brief at nhchc.org. Increasing Safety, Security, and Greater Stability Expanding Connections to
Care
Case management and benefit enrollment, health care services, outreach and support services, and harm reduction interventions
Establishing Stronger Pathways to Permanent Housing
Housing case management and additional housing strategies
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council is the premier national organization working at the nexus of homelessness and health care. Grounded in human rights and social justice, the NHCHC mission is to build an equitable, high-quality health care system through training, research, and advocacy in the movement to end homelessness.